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Speaker 1: So thanks to my stupid boss, I almost missed Jack's

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party last Friday night. Luckily, the party was still going

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on when I arrived and most of my friends were

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still there. Almost all of the food was gone, though,

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so I mostly ate chips.

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Speaker 2: Welcome to another Happy English podcast, coming to you from

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New York City. And here's your English teacher, Michael.

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Speaker 1: All right, thank you John, and thanks everyone. It's Michael

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here from Happy English and I help people speak English better.

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And this is Happy English Podcast, Episode seven sixty six,

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Almost most and mostly Today we're gonna tackle a trio

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of words that can be pretty tricky for a lot

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of English learners. Almost most and mostly. Even if you

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are pretty comfortable with your English, you might find that

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these little words still trip you up from time to time.

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So let's look at where they pop up, how they're

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used differently, and how you can really make them work

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for you to boost your fluency. And let's kick things

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off with almost almost has that feeling of pretty close

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but not quite Imagine you're running to catch a bus

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or a subway. Happens all the time here in New York.

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You run down the stairs, practically fly into the train,

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and at that moment when both feet are inside Bam,

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the doors slam shut right behind you. I almost missed

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my train. It was pretty close to missing it, but

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I was just fast enough. I almost missed it, close

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but not. And in all of that excitement to get

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on the train, I almost dropped my book. Luckily I didn't.

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I almost dropped it means I was close to dropping

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my book, but I didn't drop it. And why was

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I rushing for the train Because I had to work

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late and I wanted to get to Jack's party as

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soon as possible. Yeah, thanks to my stupid boss, I

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almost missed Jack's party. Luckily, the party was still going

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on when I arrived. Another common way we use almost

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is with numbers, like it's almost midnight, pretty close to midnight,

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but not there yet. It's like eleven fifty five pm,

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almost midnight last night on the subway. When I saw

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that I was one station away from Union Square, I

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knew I was almost there, almost at the closest station

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to Jack's house. And my mom, well, she's ninety four

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and her birthday is in December. That means, yep, you

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guessed it. She's almost ninety five years old. Close, but

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not there. Yet when we want to make general statements

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about people and things, we can also use phrases like

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almost everyone or almost everything, Like almost everyone loves pizza. Yeah,

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you might find someone who doesn't, but come on, it's pizza.

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Almost everyone I know likes pizza, And in New York City,

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pizza shops are almost everywhere almost everywhere, close to everywhere,

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but not everywhere. And another way to say almost everyone

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is with almost all. Almost all of my friends like pizza.

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Not everyone, but pretty close. Almost all of my friends,

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and almost all of the pizza shops in the city

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have decent pizza. And speaking of things being almost perfect,

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let's shift gears a bit and talk about most. Most

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and almost all have exactly the same meaning. They can

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be interchangeable in certain situations. Like most people enjoy a

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good movie, you could easily swap most for almost all.

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Like almost all people enjoy a good movie most people

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almost all people. Both of these have the same meaning,

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but there's a difference in how we use them. Grammatically.

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You wouldn't say most my friends are here, you'd say

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most of my friends. So when we're talking about a

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general group, it's most most most plus a plural noun

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But if we're getting specific, it's most plus of plus

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your chosen determiner plus a plural noun. Most people like pizza.

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Most of my friends like pizza. Listen to that. Again,

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most people like pizza. That's people in general. Most of

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my friends like pizza. That's more of a small group.

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Speaker 2: Ah.

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Speaker 1: Those little grammar nuances can really make a difference. And

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speaking of what you can't say, be careful about using

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almost followed by a noun like almost people like pizza.

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Almost people close to people but not people. Are they chimpanzees?

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Chimpanzees are close to people but not people. When you

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want to talk about nearly all people, use almost all

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people or most people but not all moost people. It's

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like once someone asked me, almost Americans like pizza. Right, hm,

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let's see almost Americans. Is that people with a green card?

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They're almost Americans? But I think a better way to

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ask is with almost all Americans or most Americans like pizza. Right? Okay.

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The last word for today is mostly. Mostly is all

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about frequency. It's about those actions you do a lot

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of the time, but not necessarily all of the time.

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Like I mostly drink coffee in the morning, I mostly

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drink coffee. It doesn't mean I never have tea. It

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just means a lot of the time I drink coffee,

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and in my free time I mostly watch movies. So

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mostly talks about what usually happens. I mostly drink coffee

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in the morning. That's pretty usual, And in my free time,

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I mostly watch movies. That's pretty usual too. So let's

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sum all this up. Almost means close, but not like

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I almost miss the train or it's almost lunchtime. Almost

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all is the same as most like almost all of

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my friends like pizza, or most people like pizza, and

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mostly tells us what you usually happens. I mostly drink

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coffee in the morning. Keep in mind, the best way

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to remember vocabulary like this and any other word or

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phrase in English is to take that word or phrase,

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write it in a sentence that's true for you or

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true in your world, and then memorize your sentences. Hey,

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did you know that you can get the chance to

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practice this kind of English with me directly. You can

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get more practice using your English when you join my

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podcast Learner's Study Group. There you can make new friends.

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Join us for live group lessons every week where we

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practice these podcast lessons together. Plus you get access to

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the PDF, transcript and audio download for every Happy English

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podcast in the past and in the future. And on

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top of that, each episode has exercises where you can

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practice this English point with speaking and writing checked by me.

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To learn more, just visit Myhappy English dot com and

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choose podcast lesson seven sixty six. Remember, learning another language

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is not easy, but it's not impossible, and I'm here

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to help you on your journey.

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Speaker 2: This podcast is brought to you by Happy English. Please

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visit Myhappy English dot com show your support for Happy

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English by leaving us a review. Get English, Get Happy,

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